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We are pleased to be able to report that one of our training students Sergio Vilela has qualified to be a member of the Brazilian National Curling Team. Sergio lives in Switzerland and trains at our Curling Academy facility in Kussnacht am Rigi with both Jean Pierre and Rodger.

Next step for Sergio and the Team Brazil is to prepare for the World Challenge against the USA. Winner of this Americas Challenge will qualify for the 2015 World Championship. Brazil has challenged in the past with no success, but this will be the first time for Sergio.

We at the Curling Academy are very pleased that Rodger Schmidt, our Academy Director will be continuing working with the Russian Curling Federation. The Sochi Olympics built a strong relationship between our entities and we look forward to be able to continue to provide the highest quality service and assistance to the aspiring Russian Athletes in the Russian National Programs.

Our primary focus in these months is on the Women’s Program and the lead up to the European Championship in Champery at the end of November.

Next stop for the teams will be the International Wetzikon Tournament November 14 – 16, 2014.

Our Summer Program will run from June 18 to August 30. Rodger Schmidt will be conducting Strategy and Mental Sessions with Individuals and Teams in off ice sessions, and both our Curling Academy Olympic Instructors, Rodger Schmidt and Jean Pierre Ruetsche will be available for on ice training sessions based on the Five Elements of Curling Technique. For bookings please call or mail to: rodger@curlingacademy.com / + 41 76 375 78 78.

Olympic Seasons are always long and hard, this one (our Curling Academies 4th Olympic Games of Coaching and pre Olympic event organizing) was our biggest and best yet. Sochi was magnificent and in the lead up from August through to the games we ran an enormous amount of Russian Training programs and International Pre Olympic Competitions at our Academy Training center in Kussnacht am Rigi.

The Olympic preparations culminated excitingly with the Multi Nation Pre Olympic Trainings and test matches between January 31 and February 4 – after which the 4 participating teams travelled directly to Sochi to compete in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

In this Olympic Year there is a need for more High Level Competitions, especially since the Oslo Cup will not happen. Therefore, we are going to host a little 4 Nation competition in Kuessnacht, Switzerland SEPTEMBER 27(evening) – SEPTEMBER 29. We need minimum 6 teams, have 3 Nations and 4 teams now, so if your Team or Nation is interested please contact the Curling Academy asap. We will work out the detailed plan and sharing of costs once we have the teams set.

Also, be informed that the Curling Academy has ice from 24th of August on, and that between 24th August and 31st August we are accepting Teams and Individuals for training sessions and practice games with qualified Coaching and Trainers.

On June 10th 2013 the new curling season officially began for the Curling Academy. Director Rodger Schmidt traveled to Sochi to open the Russian Men’s Curling Training Season at the Russian Olympic Training Centre. This Camp – with 18 Athletes and 8 support staffers – will continue until June 26th and begins the final months of preparation for the 2014 Olympic Games in February.

Our Curling Academy Director Rodger Schmidt is leading the Russian Men’s Curling Development Program at the 2013 World Curling Championship in Victoria Canada – March 28 to April 8. The Russians have been training since August 2012 at our Curling Academy in Kussnacht am Rigi and we are proud to have contributed to the Russian Men qualifying for this World Championship. It is the first time in history that a Russian Men’s Team has earned the right to play in a World Championship.

Playing against the top 12 Nations in the World has proved a monstrous task however for the Russian Men and it has taken 6 tries before we could earn a victory. Russian currently stands at 1 win and 5 losses following an early morning victory over Finland.

Clearly, it takes some time to adjust to an event like this – and this experience earned will be immeasurable to the future of the Russian Men Program as we continue to prepare for Sochi 2014.

In the first five experiences Russia did show that they are not so many miles away from being able to compete at this level. Perhaps only a kilometre or so! Game won was a loss to Switzerland – which the Swiss controlled very well following a Birthday Present 2 for Sven Michel (it really was his Birthday) in the fourth end. Game two vs Sweden was ruled by Russia and they missed a golden opportunity for an early competition victory being tied coming home with hammer.

Game three was a loss to Czech Republic – in a hard fought extra end – despite giving up a horrid 4 to the Czechs early in the game.

In game four Russia got a fortunate break to be leading 4- 2 with hammer in the fifth, but missed a routine take out to keep control of the game and allowed Denmark to take control of the second half of the contest.

Loss number five was delivered by China when Russia came short on an all important freeze in end 4 offering the Chinese to take control of the game with an easy 3.

The Russian National Men’s Program has been moving forward at a rapid pace since our Academy Director Rodger Schmidt has begun to work with the Russian Coaching staff. NOW – the focus is on preparing for the two 2013 World Championships. Both Men’s and Juniors will be training in Kussnacht am Rigi for the rest of this month.

Junior Men are preparing for the 2013 Sochi World Junior Championship which begins February 27, while the Mens Team is preparing for the 2012 World Mens Championship in Victoria Canada – the last World Championship before the 2014 Olympic Games – and the first time that that a Russian Men’s Team has qualified to participate in a World Men’s Championship ever.

To meet the increasing demand for high quality International qualified Instructors and Coaches the Curling Academy Rodger Schmidt has trained and integrated Wolfgang Burba, of Oberstdorf, Germany in to the fold.

We are happy to report that the first assignment for Wolfgang has been a tremendous success.

Wolfgang Burba coached the Italian National Junior Men’s Team to victory in the European Junior Championship and with that success qualified the Italian Juniors for the 2013 World Championship in Sochi in February. We at the Curling Academy are very proud of this result, particularly due to the accelerated training coaching training process that was required to qualify him as an Academy Coach – having joined the staff only in November 2012.

We wish Wolfgang and the Italian Junior Men success in the 2013 World Junior and are pleased to have him on board in the Academy.

Gallery

The Russian Men Team coached by Academy Director Rodger Schmidt have finished in the top 8 in the last two CCT tournaments that they have participated in. In Perth in mid January they lost a quarterfinal match to Norway’s Ulsrud … Continue reading →